1. family and parenting
2. children

Homelessness
and its Effects
on Children
FAMILY
HOUSING
FUND
A Report Prepared for the
Family Housing Fund
December 1999
By Ellen Hart-Shegos
Hart-Shegos and Associates, Inc.
Editor: Anne Ray
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary — Homelessness
and its Effects on Children …………………………………2
2. Homelessness and its Effects on
Early Childhood Development ……………………………4
3. Homelessness and its Effects on
School Age Children ………………………………………6
4. The Effects of Homelessness can be
Minimized — Maybe Even Reversed ………………………10
5. Endnotes ……………………………………………………12
1
Executive Summary
1
Homeless children
are not simply
at risk; most suffer
Homelessness influences every facet of a
child’s life — from conception to young
adulthood. The experience of homelessness
inhibits the physical, emotional, cognitive,
social, and behavioral development of children.
specific physical,
psychological, and
Homelessness and its
emotional damage.
Effects on Early
Childhood Development
Before Birth
Young children who are homeless are often
separated from their parents, which can cause
long-term negative effects. Homeless preschool age children also are more likely to
experience major developmental delays and to
suffer from emotional problems. Despite these
developmental delays and emotional
difficulties, homeless preschoolers receive
fewer services than other children their age.
Homelessness and its Effects
on School Age Children
The impact of homelessness begins well
before a child is born. The overwhelming
majority of homeless parents are single
women, many of whom were homeless
themselves as children. Homeless women face
many obstacles to healthy pregnancies, such
as chemical abuse, chronic and acute health
problems, and lack of prenatal care.
By the time homeless children reach school
age, their homelessness affects their social,
physical, and academic lives. Homeless
children are not simply at risk; most suffer
specific physical, psychological, and
emotional damage due to the circumstances
that accompany episodes of homelessness.
Infants
Physical Health
Children born into homelessness are more
likely to have low birth weights and are at
greater risk of death. Homelessness also
exposes infants to environmental factors that
can endanger their health. Because homeless
families often have little access to health care,
many homeless infants lack essential
immunizations.
In general, homeless children consistently
exhibit more health problems than housed
poor children. Environmental factors
contribute to homeless children’s poor health,
and homeless children are at high risk for
infectious disease. Homeless children are at
greater risk for asthma and lead poisoning,
often with more severe symptoms than housed
children. Poor nutrition also contributes to
homeless children’s poor health, causing
increased rates of stunted growth and anemia.
Despite these widespread health problems,
homeless children generally lack access to
consistent health care, and this lack of care can
increase severity of illness.
Toddlers
Homeless children begin to demonstrate
significant developmental delays after 18
months of age, which are believed to influence
later behavioral and emotional problems.
2
Preschoolers
Emotional and Behavioral Development:
Homeless children are confronted with
stressful and traumatic events that they often
are too young to understand, leading to severe
emotional distress. Homeless children
experience stress through constant changes,
which accumulate with time. These stressful
changes result in a higher incidence of mental
disorders, which become manifested in
homeless children’s behavior. Despite
significantly more incidences of mental
illness, less than one-third of these children
receive professional help.
Academic Development:
Homeless children’s academic performance
is hampered both by their poor cognitive
development and by the circumstances of
their homelessness, such as constant
mobility. Homeless children are more likely
to score poorly on math, reading, spelling,
and vocabulary tests and are more likely to
be held back a year in school. As with
physical and mental health care, homeless
children’s greater needs do not lead to
greater access to special services.
The Effects of Homelessness
With early and
can be Minimized — Maybe
consistent
Even Reversed
intervention,
While research on homeless children paints an
overwhelmingly bleak picture of their current
and future status, there is hope that with early
and consistent intervention strategies, children
can learn to overcome many of the
detrimental effects of their poverty and
homeless experiences. One set of strategies is
to ensure priority access for homeless families
for services that can mitigate the effects of
homelessness, such as supportive housing,
drug and alcohol treatment, parenting support,
afterschool programs, and nutritional support.
A second set of strategies can be employed by
emergency and supportive housing providers
to assist their residents, including obtaining
health screenings and prenatal care for
women, assisting families in obtaining health
and nutrition information, assessing and
monitoring children’s development, and
assisting children and parents in participating
in school activities.
children can
overcome many
of the effects
of poverty and
homelessness.
These interventions give young children who
have experienced the traumatic effects of
homelessness the chance to build the
resiliency and competence they need to break
the detrimental cycle of homelessness.
3
Homelessness and Its Effects on
2
Early Childhood Development
The impact of
homelessness
begins well before
a child is born.
Homelessness influences every facet of a
child’s life — from conception to young
adulthood. A review of a well-established
body of research on childhood homelessness
reveals a profound and accumulative negative
effect on the development of children, leading
many to repeat the cycle of homelessness as
adults. Homelessness inhibits the physical,
emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral
development of children.
Before Birth
The impact of homelessness begins well
before a child is born. Homeless parents
generally have had difficult starts in life. The
overwhelming majority of homeless parents
are single female heads of households, many
of whom were homeless themselves as
children and had lived in emergency shelters.1
Many of these parents were displaced as
children from their families of origin, with
nearly a quarter having lived in foster care.2
Today’s homeless parent is likely to be a
young woman in her twenties who gave birth
to her first child in her teens. She is likely to
have never been married, have had multiple
pregnancies resulting in at least two children
under the age of six, have had an incomplete
education, and have never been employed.
Many homeless parents have experienced
physical and sexual abuse, constant crisis,
family and community violence, isolation,
and the cumulative stress of persistent poverty.
Nearly a third of all homeless women have
been diagnosed and hospitalized for mental
illnesses, such as depression. Despite these
difficult circumstances, however, pregnancy
rates among homeless women are high.
Nationally, 35 percent of women coming into
shelters are pregnant versus 6 percent of the
general population, and 26 percent have given
birth within a year of seeking shelter.
4
Homeless women face many obstacles to
healthy pregnancies. First, many homeless
women abuse alcohol or chemicals. Service
providers report a 40 percent substance use
rate among women in their programs, with
approximately one-fifth of homeless women
disclosing drug and alcohol abuse during
pregnancy. There is overwhelming evidence
that chemical abuse harms prenatal
development and later cognitive and
behavioral development of children. Second,
homeless women tend to suffer from chronic
and acute health problems that can affect the
prenatal development of their children.3
Finally, homeless women are less likely to
seek prenatal care. Fifty percent of homeless
women versus 15 percent of the general
population had not had a prenatal visit in the
first trimester of pregnancy. Forty-eight
percent of homeless women had not received
medical assessment of their pregnancy before
being admitted to the shelter.
Infancy
Children born into homelessness are more
likely to have low birth weights. A child with
a low birth weight and whose mother did not
receive prenatal care is nine times more likely
to die in the first 12 months of life. These
risks are multiplied if the mother also abused
drugs and/or alcohol.4
Homelessness also exposes infants to
environmental factors that can endanger their
health. Homeless women with infants often
are forced to return to a shelter or an
overcrowded home of a family member or
friend after the birth. Overcrowded conditions
expose babies to disease and illness, maternal
stress, lack of sanitation, lack of refrigeration
and sterilization for formula, and lack of a
routine. The difficult surroundings often affects
the mother’s feelings of adequacy and can
interfere with critical maternal-child bonding.5
(ages 18 months to 3 years)
Homeless pre-school age children are likely to
demonstrate developmental delays. Most
homeless children (75 percent) under age five
have at least one major developmental delay
or deviation, primarily in the areas of
impulsivity or speech.8 Even more alarming,
nearly half of homeless children (44 percent)
have two or more major developmental delays.
More than half of all homeless preschoolers
tested were at or below the first percentile for
their age in receptive verbal functioning.
Nearly one-third of homeless preschoolers
functioned only at the fifth percentile for age
in visual-motor ability, and 38 percent
exhibited emotional and behavioral problems.9
The more subtle developmental delays in
homeless children begin to reveal themselves
after 18 months of age. Then, as toddlers,
homeless children often begin to demonstrate
their reactions to stress. They may become
markedly insecure, tearful, distrusting, and
irritable, and they may regress in speech and
toilet training. From this point on, homeless
children begin to demonstrate significant
developmental delays. These developmental
delays are believed to influence later
behavioral and emotional problems.6
Young children who are homeless often suffer
from emotional problems. In general, homeless
children cry more easily, react more intensely
when upset, tend to overreact to small trials,
and are easily distressed. One in five homeless
children ages three to six years demonstrate
extreme emotional distress warranting
professional intervention. Twelve percent have
clinically diagnosed problems with anxiety,
depression and withdrawal, and 16 percent have
behavior problems demonstrated by severe
aggression and hostility.
Finally, homeless families often have little
access to health care. Research indicates that
at least one-third of all homeless infants lack
essential immunizations.
Toddlers
Preschoolers (ages 3 - 6)
Young children who are homeless are often
separated from their parents. As noted earlier,
many homeless mothers have experienced
foster care placement as children. Most
homeless mothers (70 percent) who were in
foster care as children will have at least on of
their children placed in foster care. When
children are separated from their mothers,
particularly during the critical first five
formative years, they are likely to suffer longterm negative effects. Foster care is so
destabilizing for some children that its effects
last well into adulthood.7
Homeless
preschool age
children are
likely to
demonstrate
developmental
delays.
Despite these developmental delays and
emotional difficulties, homeless preschoolers
receive fewer services than other children their
age. For example, significantly fewer homeless
children of preschool age are enrolled in early
childhood programs that could greatly aid them
in their transition to school.10
5
Homelessness and its Effects on
3
School Age Children
In general,
homeless children
consistently exhibit
more health
problems even than
poor children who
have housing.
Illness
Each Month
Extended Care Post-birth
Chronic
Problems
Infectious Diseases
Respiratory
Infections
Hospitalized
Asthma
Stunted Growth
Anemia
1x
2x
3x
4x
5x
6x
Homeless children are many
times more likely to experience
By the time homeless children reach school
age, their homelessness affects their social,
physical, and academic lives. In each of the
major areas surveyed—physical health,
development, and academic performance—
studies reveal that homeless children are not
simply at risk; most suffer specific physical,
psychological, and emotional damage due to
the circumstances that accompany episodes of
homelessness.
health problems.
Physical Health
Homeless children face multiple, profound
risks to their health.11 In general, homeless
children consistently exhibit more health
problems even than poor children who have
housing.12 Half of homeless children
experience two or more illnesses per month.
6
Homeless children are more likely to
experience chronic health problems than are
housed children. They are four times more
likely to need extended health care
immediately post-birth. Sixteen percent of
older homeless children, versus nine percent
of housed children, have one or more chronic
health problems, such as cardiac disease,
peripheral vascular disease, endocrine
dysfunction, or neurological disorders.13
Homeless children also are at high risk of
infectious disease. As compared with housed
children, homeless children suffer from five
times the rate of diarrheal infections as housed
children; this is a serious, potentially fatal
illness.14 Homeless children suffer from many
respiratory infections at twice the rate of
housed children, and they are twice as likely
to have a positive skin test showing
exposure to tuberculosis.
Homeless children are confronted with
stressful and traumatic events that they often
are too young to understand, and this leads to
severe emotional distress. Homeless children
worry about where they will sleep on a given
night, and if they have a place to sleep, they
are afraid of losing it. Older children worry
about being separated from friends and pets,
and they fear that they will be seen as
different among new peers at school. They
also worry about their families: their parents,
whose stress and tension is often shared with
the children, and their siblings, for whom they
see themselves as primary care givers. More
than half of homeless children surveyed also
said that they worried about their physical
safety, especially with regard to violence,
guns, and being injured in a fire. One-quarter
of homeless children have witnessed violence
in the family.
homeless children
between the ages
of 6 and 17 have
very high rates of
mental disorders
compared to
their peers.
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Homeless children
Development
stressful events,
Other children
Despite these widespread health problems,
homeless children generally lack access to
consistent health care, and this lack of care can
increase severity of illness. Most other children
in the United States receive routine medical
care in a doctor’s office, visit a dentist
regularly, and are covered by private health
insurance. Homeless children are far more
likely to receive poor preventative care and
excessive emergency treatment. While
approximately half of homeless families
surveyed said they had received care from a
community clinic, 60 percent stated they had
visited the emergency room of a hospital at
least once within the past 12 months, and 37
Emotional and Behavioral
As a result of
Homeless children
Poor nutrition also contributes to homeless
children’s poor health. Homeless children are
six times more likely than other children to
have stunted growth16 and seven times more
likely to experience iron deficiencies leading to
anemia.17 When found to be anemic, homeless
children’s iron deficiency is 50 percent worse
than anemia among housed poor children.
two or more times in the past year. More than
10 percent surveyed stated that they or their
child had been hospitalized in the past year.
Moreover, nearly a third of homeless children
have never visited a dentist.18
Other children
Environmental factors also contribute to
homeless children’s poor health. Asthma is
common among homeless children and children
living in poor quality housing. Indoor
environmental conditions that aggravate asthma
include cockroach infestations, molds, smoke,
and overcrowding. When homeless children
with asthma get sick with other ailments, their
symptoms generally are more pronounced than
those in housed children, and they are
hospitalized for symptoms at three times the
rate of the average asthma patient. Homeless
children also are more apt to test positive for
lead poisoning, with more severe symptoms.
The symptoms of lead poisoning can include
abdominal pain, constipation, fatigue, anemia,
nerve damage, and altered brain functions. Lead
poisoning’s effect on the brain can cause
seizures, coma and even death in severe cases,
and long term exposure can lead to kidney,
brain, and reproductive organ damage.15
0%
Homeless children also experience stress
through constant change, and these stressful
changes accumulate as these children grow
older. The average homeless child moves as
many as three times in a year. Homeless
children are seven times more likely than other
children to be placed in foster care. Twentytwo percent of homeless children experience
foster care or living with relatives, compared
with three percent of housed children. The
likelihood of foster care placement increases
with the child’s age: nine percent for infants
and toddlers, 19 percent for three to six year
olds, and 34 percent among school-agers.19
Anxiety
Depression
Aggressive
Behavior
Percentage of homeless
children with emotional
problems compared with other
school age children.
7
Homeless children
are four times more
likely than other
children to score at
or below the tenth
percentile in
vocabulary and
reading.
Test Scores
Reading
Spelling
Math
0
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Percentage of homeless
children performing below
grade level
8
As a result of these stressful events, homeless
children between the ages of six and 17 have
very high rates of mental disorders compared
to their peers. One-third of homeless children
have at least one major mental disorder that
interferes with daily activity. Almost half (47
percent) have problems with anxiety,
depression, or withdrawal, compared to 18
percent of other school age children. Thirty-six
percent demonstrate delinquent or aggressive
behavior, compared with 17 percent of other
school age children.20 The stress of
homelessness in children can lead to insecure
attachments to others, poor self-esteem, and
dysfunctional personality development.
These conditions manifest themselves in the
behavior of homeless children. Often, boys
exhibit aggression, while girls exhibit
depression and passive or withdrawn
behavior. Most often, homeless children
exhibit lethargy, extreme indifference at
school, and overt anger with their parents.
Despite significantly more incidents of mental
illness, less than one-third of these children
actually receive professional help.21 In fact, as
the severity of the mental illness increases,
homeless children are less likely to receive
adequate health care.
Academic and Cognitive
Development
Homeless children’s academic performance is
hampered both by their poor cognitive
development and by the circumstances of
their homelessness. First, homeless children
experience developmental delays that hamper
academic success at four times the rate of
other children.22 They suffer from emotional
and behavior problems that affect learning at
almost three times the rate of housed children.
Homeless children experience twice the
incidence of learning disabilities, such as
speech delays and dyslexia, as other children.
These developmental delays have multiple
causes. All poor children are at higher risk for
delayed cognitive development due to higher
rates of perinatal complications, reduced
access to resources that buffer the effects of
these complications, increased exposure to
lead, and less home-based cognitive
stimulation.23 Homeless children are also
subjected to the detrimental affects of
pronounced and prolonged stress. These
factors, often combined with lower teacher
expectations, poor school readiness skills, and
harsh and inconsistent parenting, conspire to
negatively affect homeless children’s cognitive
and intellectual development.
Second, the circumstances of homelessness
make it even more difficult for homeless
children to perform well in school. In
particular, constant mobility harms the
academic progress of homeless children.
Forty-one percent of homeless children attend
two different schools in one year, and 28
percent of homeless children attend three or
more schools. Frequent mobility leads both to
poor performance, which is evident in lower
math and reading test scores, and increased
behavioral and emotional problems, such as
peer disturbances, anxiety or depression,
lower ratings of psychosocial development,
difficulties in developing and maintaining
peer relationships, and absenteeism and
truancy. Negative impact on achievement due
to mobility seems to be higher among
children in elementary school. However, this
may be because many homeless youth drop
out of high school. Another circumstance of
homelessness that compromises children’s
ability to perform in school is poor physical
health; in addition to the environmental
effects of poverty and homelessness, these
children must juggle academic expectations
when they are not feeling well.
These cognitive delays and circumstances
have a clear, negative effect on homeless
children’s school performance. Homeless
children are four times more likely than other
children to score at or below the tenth
percentile in receptive vocabulary and
reading.24 Nationally, 75 percent of homeless
children perform below grade level in
reading, 72 percent perform below grade level
in spelling, and 54 percent perform below
grade level in math.
As with physical and mental health care,
homeless children’s greater needs do not lead
to greater access to special services. Even
though homeless children are more in need of
special education as compared to the general
student population, they receive less. Thirtyeight percent of homeless children with
learning disabilities receive treatment for their
disabilities, compared to 75 percent of housed
children with disabilities; nine percent are in
special education classes, compared to
24 percent of housed children.
While homeless children receive fewer
services, they are more likely to be held back
a year (36 percent of homeless children
compared to 18 percent of other children).
This is particularly disturbing because in
general, children who are held back a year are
more likely to repeat a grade in the future.25
Although many homeless children are held
back because of academic failure, many
others are held back because of circumstances
that may relate to their homelessness:
excessive absenteeism (21 percent of
homeless children compared to five percent of
other children) and because they moved
(14 percent of homeless children compared
to five percent of other children).26
A local study of homeless children conducted by
the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban
and Regional Affairs (January 1999) bears out
these trends. In 1995-96, 80 percent of homeless
children surveyed fell into the bottom quartile of
the Weschsler Individual Achievement Test.
Another achievement test showed that more
than half of these children had already fallen
behind in elementary school by two or more
years. CURA notes that children with such
delays have high drop-out rates when they enter
secondary school. Many of these children have
poor academic performance before becoming
homeless, and their homelessness exacerbates
their academic difficulties.
9
4
The Effects of Homelessness Can Be
Minimized—Maybe Even Reversed
Many homeless
children can benefit
from a number of
cost-effective,
practical
interventions.
Parental
Closeness
Involvement
in Education
Caring
Adults
One-to-One
Tutors
Teachers
Support
Programs
There is good news.
While research on homeless children paints an
overwhelmingly bleak picture of their current
and future status, there is hope that with
early and consistent intervention strategies,
children can learn to overcome many of
the detrimental effects of their poverty and
homeless experiences. A local study of
homeless children conducted by the University
of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional
Affairs (CURA) noted that some homeless
children were succeeding academically despite
highly challenging situations. In their efforts to
collect information directly from homeless
parents, CURA found that parents typically
are “quite concerned about their children and
value education as the most important need of
their children beyond the survival basics of
shelter, food, and clothing.”27
When CURA analyzed what practices
contributed to the success of these children,
they noted:
•
•
•
•
parental closeness with their children and
involvement in children’s education;
high-quality relationships with teachers in
special intervention support programs;
one-to-one relationships between tutors
and children; and
relationships with competent and
caring adults.
While it is true that most homeless children
have been damaged significantly in their short
lives, there is real hope that many homeless
children can benefit from a number of
cost-effective, practical interventions that
10
build their resiliency and competence.
If these interventions are to be successful,
however, homeless families must be placed in
stable housing with appropriate services as
soon as possible, and the parent must
receive the support necessary to act as the
primary caregiver.28
One set of strategies is to ensure priority
access for homeless families for the services
that can mitigate the detrimental effects of
homelessness. Homeless parents and
children should receive priority for the
following services:
•
Long-term supportive housing;
•
Drug and alcohol treatment and sobriety
support programs for mothers,
particularly those who are pregnant;
•
Parenting education and support
programming specifically designed for
parents who did not experience a
supportive childhood;
•
After-school tutoring and academic
support programs;
•
Nutritional support programs, including
WIC (Women, Infants and Children — a
food supplement program), free-lunch
programs at school, supplemental snacks in
after-school programs, and other food
support programs for families and children.
In addition, there are a number of strategies
that providers of emergency and supportive
housing can employ to mitigate or reverse the
negative effects of homelessness on children.
These include:
•
•
•
•
Ensuring that all homeless women
receive an initial health screening at time
of admission into emergency or
supportive housing;
Ensuring easy access to prenatal care for
pregnant women. This may require
advocacy regarding their entitlement
to benefits, transportation, and child care
for their other children;
•
•
•
•
•
Teaching each new mother about her
child’s individual early development
needs, especially if the child was born
with health problems;
Encouraging the use of WIC and other
food supplement programs to meet the
increased nutritional needs of pregnant
and lactating mothers;
Assisting parents in understanding their
children’s nutritional needs;
•
Assisting families in obtaining
supplemental food resources, either
on-site or through advocacy and referral;
•
Ensuring that all children are screened
for immunizations and receive
ongoing immunizations;
•
Ensuring that preschoolers attend early
childhood and learning readiness
programs, which may include arranging
for transportation to programs;
Conducting an initial developmental
screening of all children entering the
housing programs, including physical,
emotional and behavioral, cognitive,
and academic assessments;
Monitoring children to ensure that they
receive the physical, mental, and special
educational resources to which they
are entitled;
Assisting parents in supporting their
children’s school attendance and
performance. This might include helping
parents to enroll their children in school,
arrange for school transportation, and
attend school functions and meetings
associated with the child’s performance;
Interventions give
young children who
have experienced
the traumatic
effects of
homelessness the
chance to build the
resiliency and
competence they
need to break the
detrimental cycle of
homelessness.
Assisting children in participating
in after-school social and
recreational activities.
These various strategies begin with the
earliest interventions in prenatal care and
continue as the child grows and pursues
his/her potential. These interventions give
young children who have experienced the
traumatic effects of homelessness the chance
to build the resiliency and competence they
need to break the detrimental cycle of
homelessness.
11
Endnotes
5
1 Hausman, Bonnie and Constance Hammen.
“Parenting in Homeless Families.” Amer. J.
Orthopsychiat 63(3): 358-369, July 1993;
“Tale of Two Nations” Homes for the Homeless.
www.opendoor.com/hfh/ Sep. 2, 1998.
2 Roman, NP; Woffe PB. “Web of failure:
the relationship between foster care and
homelessness.” Washington, DC: National Alliance
to End Homelessness, 1995; “Homeless Children:
America’s New Outcasts.” Better Homes Fund,
1999; “Day to Day: Parent to Child.” Homes for
the Homeless. www.opendoor.com/hfh/Jan. 1998;
Ibid. “Tale of Two Nations.”
3 Bassuk, Ellen L. and Linda Weinreb. “Homeless
Pregnant Women.” Amer. J. Orthopsychiat. 63(3):
348-356, July 1993.
4 Ibid. “Homeless Pregnant Women.”
5 Ibid. “Homeless Children: America’s New
Outcasts”; Ibid. “Homeless Pregnant Women.”
18 Ibid. “Homeless Children: America’s
New Outcasts.”
19 Ibid.
10 Rescorla, L: et al. “Ability, achievement, and
adjustment in homeless children.” Amer. J.
Orthopsychiat. 61(2): 210-220, April 1991.
20 Ibid.
11 Ibid. “Homeless Children: America’s
New Outcasts.”
21 Zima, BT; et al. “Emotional and behavioral
problems and severe academic delays among
sheltered homeless children in Los Angeles
County.” AJPH 84(2): 260-264, February 1994.
12 Wood, D. “Homeless children: their evaluation
and treatment.” Journal of Pediatric Health Care
3(4): 194-199, July 1989; Wood, DL: et al. “Health
of homeless children and housed, poor children.”
Pediatrics 86(6): 858-866, December 1990;
“Affordable Housing Shortage Threatens Children’s
Health.” Family Housing Fund, June 1999.
13 Molnar, JM; et al. “Constantly Compromised:
Impact of Homelessness on Children.” Journal of
Social Issues 46(4): 109-124, 1990.
6 Ibid. “Homeless Children: America’s
New Outcasts.”
14 Smith, LG. “Teaching treatment of mild, acute
diarrhea and secondary dehydration to homeless
parents.” Public Health Rep 102(5): 539-542,
September 1987.
7 Mangine, SJ; et al. “Homelessness among adults
raised as foster children: a survey of drop-in center
users.” Psychology Rep 67(3 Pt 1): 739-745,
December 1990.
15 Ibid. “Homeless Children: America’s
New Outcasts.”
8 Grant, R. “The special needs of homeless
children: early intervention at a welfare hotel.”
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 10(4):
76-91, 1990.
12
9 Eddins, E. “Characteristics, health status and
service needs of sheltered homeless families.”
ABNF J 4(2): 40-44, 1993.
16 Fierman, AH; et al. “Growth delay in homeless
children.” Pediatrics 88(5): 918-925,
November 1991.
17 Ibid. “Affordable Housing Shortage Threatens
Children’s Health.”
22 Molnar, JM; et al. “Constantly compromised:
the impact of homelessness on children.” Journal
of Social Issues 46(4): 109-124, 1990.
23 McLoyd, VC. “Socioeconomic disadvantage
and child development.” Am Psychology 53(2):
185-204, February 1998.
24 Parker, RM; et al. “A survey of the health of
homeless children in Philadelphia shelters.” Am J
Dis Child , 145(5): 520-526, May 1991; Ibid.
“Homeless Children: America’s New Outcasts.”
25 Ibid.
26 Sandel, Megan; et al. “There’s No Place Like
Home.” Housing America , 1999.
27 Masten, AS and Arturo Sesma. “Risk and
Resilience Among Children Homeless in
Minneapolis.” CURA Reporter 19(1), January
1999.
28 Helvie, CO and BB Alexy. “Using after-shelter
case management to improve outcomes for families
with children.” Public Health Rep 107(5): 585-588,
September 1992.
13
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